Saturday In Istanbul – part 1
12. May 2012Istanbul - With 22 C°, 65 % humidity, almost no clouds and streams of sunshine it is actually the perfect weather for truck racing. The only thing that is missing are the spectators. Tickets could not be purchased; there are only invited guests – fortunately around 10.000. However, even this number of spectators gets lost in the huge Istanbul Park Circuit. For the truck racers of the FIA Truck Racing Championship it is the most important thing to concentrate on their first big race in Asia, because Istanbul Park is located on the far side of the Bosphorus and therefore belongs to the Asian part of the big city with a 15 million population. The title holder, Jochen Hahn, continued where he stopped last season. The German MAN – driver dominated the first free practice. However, in the second free training his Spanish MAN – colleagues Antonia Albacete suddenly dominated the race. Hahn only drove the third – quickest time behind the Renault driver Markus Oestreich (GER). When again in the first qualifying Hahn was dominated by Albacete, many people assumed that he would not be as dominant anymore as he had been during the second half of the last season. The Top Ten for the SuperPole has been completed by three Renault drivers Adam Lacko (CZE), Markus Bösiger (SUI) and Oestreich as well as David Vrsecky (CZE) in his Buggyra, Dominique Lacheze (FRA) in a MAN, both Renault trucks driven by Antony Janiec (FRA) and Jean – Pierre Blaise (BEL) and the fin Mika Mäkinen (MAN). Both MAN – drivers René Reinert (GER) and Matthew Summerfield (GBR) had to be satisfied with the places 11 and 12. In the SuperPole which is essential for all starting positions, Hahn totally turned the tables again and won the first starting position in front of Albacete, Lacko and Bösiger. These four had only been four-tenths of a second apart. Oestreich, Lacheze, Vrsecky, Janiec, Mäkinen and Blaise took the other rankings. Afterwards, Janiec and Blaise were disqualified due to speeding which however did not have any major impact. Only Janiec and Mäkinen switched ranks.
Impressions:
